This is Duolingo, a language-learning website/app that deserves some serious recognition. It offers over 10 languages for English speakers, as well as courses for non-English speakers around the world, and they’re in the process of adding more.

But wait, I don’t want to do any more schoolwork! Not to worry little one, Duolingo is actually more like a game. You can compete with friends, and earn “lingots” (which are basically Duolingo money) to buy power-ups, extra activities, and bonus skills - like Flirting.

I’m already taking a language, what do I need this for?

It’s not really a secret that most school language courses (in America, anyway) suck and only teach you to speak the language at about a third grader’s level. Which is why Duolingo is so freaking awesome.

Teachers can’t give every student individualized attention, but Duolingo can. If you’re not learning the way you want to or as much as you want to in the classroom, Duolingo is a really great resource. It’s easy, tailored to you, and really effective.

Duolingo tracks your progress and reminds you when you haven’t studied for a while or need a refresher on something. Already semi-fluent in a language? No problem, just take a shortcut to more advanced subjects or test out of the lesson.

The lessons start with the basics (he, she, hello, thank you, etc) and move up to harder stuff. Duolingo focuses on vocabulary first, so you can learn the language and then the grammar that goes with it - much simpler than the system most schools use. It also tracks the number of words you’ve learned and how well you know them.

And you don’t even have to write out the flashcards!

Duolingo is perfect for reviewing everything you forgot over the summer or giving you the extra help you need. And if you’re trying to learn a language on your own, it’s fantastic - you don’t have to create your own lessons. Whether you’re trying to learn your second, third, or fifth language, I seriously recommend Duolingo.

Okay, what else?

Duolingo also has discussion boards, where you can ask for help with a hard lesson, make new friends, watch for updates, and share your achievements.

Even better is the Immersion feature. It won’t send you to Spain or France, but it’s pretty awesome. Duolingo takes real articles from the internet, which users translate. You can translate articles from your native language into the language you’re learning or vice versa, which gives you more experience and makes the Internet more universal.

You can suggest new languages and track Duolingo’s progress in creating new courses. Bilinguals (older than 13) can help to create these courses. Duolingo has a long list of courses that can be contributed to, like Punjabi, Hebrew, and Vietnamese. Oh, and Dothraki, Klingon, Sindarin, and Esperanto.

And the best part? IT’S COMPLETELY FREE.

If you love languages or just want to pass French class this year, USE DUOLINGO. Download the app and practice a language while you wait for the bus instead of playing Angry Birds!

despite not really looking forward to my birthday at all and having like,no plans, it turned out to be a really great birthday!

my dad took me out to lunch after visiting an apartment complex with me andthen he and my mom took me out for dinner later - they bought me flowersand a balloon! and a gift card for homegoods, which was sweet.

that’s not what was awesome, though. what was awesome was that for thefirst time in what feels like forever I sat and talked with my mom and had*fun* and we didn’t fight at all there were no upsets (well, one, but thatbarely counts, it had nothing to do with my mom at all and just with thethought of all the huge changes in my life) and we were all happy andlaughing and kept talking for at least an hour after we paid the check(yes, we tipped extra) and only went home when we did because my mom wasstarting to get all slur-ity (I. may not have mentioned this here, but notonly is my mom currently in a bad depressive episode, she’s recovering froma second concussion. and apparently has contracted lyme disease.)

(i have no idea how she has managed to do all this and am mindboggled bythe fact that she’s still insisting on doing yard work.)

it was maybe the best birthday present i would never have even thought toask for, and i’m still just so happy whenever i think about it.

(side note: there was a period of about twenty minutes where my parentswent on a tangent reminiscing about all the quirks i have and how muchworse they were when i was tiny and internally i was just likeahahahahahahaha this is why persephonesidekick was like ffs mkp you’retotally on the spectrum because goddamn when you list shit together likethat it starts to add up quick.)

in less happy news, I have been headaching like whoa lately and missingwork and all sorts of shit, unfortunately at just the very time when I amgetting kicked off my parents’ health insurance and switching to anentirely new provider, because apparently I have great timing like that.

I am happily almost headache-free today, so am back at work and am hopingto get actually loaded into the new insurance’s system within the next dayor so so i can actually make some doctor appointments.

The worst thing about it is how fucking terrified it makes me because I hada three-year headache as a teenager and bad daily headaches for years afterthat before it finally settled down into mild daily headaches and amigraine every few weeks or so and I don’t want to go back.

I’m lucky in that my headaches have never been as bad as say,arrowsforpen’s, even when they were at their worst, but it’s notnecessarily the intensity of the pain that’s so bad about it - it’s that itnever ever stops and there’s no end in sight.

I don’t want to go through that again. It was bad enough the first time,and at least at school I could get accommodations. Kind of harder to dothat in the workplace.

(kate i didn’t bls this for you because &passing mention of my having had sexual experiences, jsyk. although that’s.about as much as there is in the actual post, so. idk. possibly tmi?)

I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m not sure I’ve &sexually attracted to a &en mean???

Like I get turned on, okay, but what turns me on is the things people aredoing or saying (and that rarely in person). Making out turns me on, andthe thought of the way it feels making out turns me on, but the thought ofmaking out itself? not so much.

but otoh, I do find people attractive in different ways, right, like thisperson is cute as in I want to cuddle them or this person is beautiful in Ishould admire you and your perfection from afar because I might break youyou’re so perfect or even this person is gorgeous I just love looking at you

but the only times people really seem sexy are like. when a guy isgesturing with his hands and his wrists and hands just look fucking&ips and cocks her head in just theright way, or when people are moving together and getting off but in abeautiful way, all smooth lines and pretty sounds

and this doesn’t quite seem to be the way most people feel attraction???

idk.

and beyond the sexual whatever, like how the squelchy grossness of it alland the skin-crawling sense of someone being way too fucking close to mewhen I try to imagine actually having someone touch me sexually, and how inmy two semi-sexual experiences at camp any sexual feelings were completelydivorced from the other person involved -

idk about romance, either. I *remember* liking people romantically, I guess- I mean, that’s basically a squish where you also find the personattractive, right? it’s not like I ever daydreamed about kissing them, notreally, but I enjoyed kissing and touching them and I thought about themall the time, felt lightheaded and dizzy when they were close enough Icould feel the heat of their body or smell whatever cologne/perfume theywere wearing.

that’s attraction, isn’t it?

but I don’t really want another romantic relationship. I’m not sure I’veever *wanted* one, really - they always just kind of happened, where Iliked someone and found them interesting, and then all of a sudden theywere suddenly really attractive and breathtaking and it kind of went fromthere.

it’s a suffocating, skin-crawling idea, being so wrapped up in anotherperson as I see on tv or read about in books, as much as I like towatch/read such things.

I like being me and only me. I even hesitate at the idea of having moreintimate friendships, because how do I stay my own person when a tiny partof me is always devoted to them?

of course, it is also my understanding that I have codependent tendenciesso maybe that’s not how intimacy is supposed to work.

but idk how the fuck it *is* supposed to work, then....hashtag mkp introspectshashtag the world may never know

it is really weird following disabled folks and reading the actuallyautistic tag because I’m not disabled, not really, not so long as mydepression’s being managed, but there is just so much fucking &..hashtag mkp isn’t neurotypical